Indigenous Protected Area - Background
What is a protected area?
Protected areas are what most of us generally know as national parks, nature reserves and marine parks.
The World Conservation Union (IUCN) defines a protected area as 'an area of land or sea specially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biodiversity and associated cultural resources and management through legal and/or other effective means'.
The mention of 'associated cultural resources' in the IUCN definition recognises a human component to the natural world; and the words 'other effective means' implies that protected areas do not necessarily need to be legally established by the Government.
Through the IUCN definition there is international recognition that Indigenous resource use and customary land management can be in harmony with - and contribute to - biodiversity conservation objectives on protected areas.
What is an Indigenous Protected Area?
An Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) is an area of Indigenous-owned land or sea where traditional Indigenous owners have entered into an agreement with the Australian Government to promote biodiversity and cultural resource conservation.
The Indigenous Protected Areas element of the Caring for our Country initiative supports Indigenous communities to manage their land as IPAs, contributing to the National Reserve System.
Indigenous Protected Areas have grown out of a definition of an IPA that was developed by Indigenous delegates at a national workshop in 1997:
An Indigenous Protected Area is governed by the continuing responsibilities of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to care for and protect lands and waters for present and future generations.
Indigenous Protected Areas may include areas of land and waters over which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are custodians, and which shall be managed for cultural biodiversity and conservation, permitting customary sustainable resource use and sharing of benefit.
This definition includes land that is within the existing conservation estate, that is or has the ability to be cooperatively managed by the current management agency and the traditional owners.
(Indigenous delegates 1997)
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